Defender Josh Earl has returned to Preston after loan deal with Ipswich expires

The left-back had joined the Suffolk club in January in order to gain more first-team experience after being on loan at Bolton Wanderers in the first-half of the season.

Earl’s loan at Ipswich ran until May 3 which should have been the final day of the regular campaign – it could have been extended to cover the play-offs if needed.

However, with the season currently suspended and there being a great deal of uncertainty about League One and League Two resuming, Ipswich chose not to extend.

Obviously for the time being, Earl will have to stick to training at home in order to keep his fitness up.

However, North End have pencilled in May 16 as a date to return to training.

So that would see Earl, 21, reunited with the team-mates he last trained with during pre-season.

Earl wouldn’t be eligible to play for North End this season though,players only being able to play for two teams in a campaign.

His two loans have both been rather painful affairs in terms of injuries.

On his Bolton debut on the opening day of the season, Earl damaged ankle ligaments less than 20 minutes in.

He needed surgery and returned to action in October, making 11 appearances.

The loan ran until January and North End thought Bolton would extend it to take in the full season.

They opted against that and in January, Earl joined Ipswich.

He suffered a facial injury in training early in his stay which required him to wear a protective mask.

Earl made five starts and two substitute appearances for the Portman Road side.

Explaining the decision to send Earl back to North End, Ipswich general manager of football operations Lee O’Neill said:“We all agreed that it was the sensible thing to do given the circumstances.

“We could have extended Josh’s loan but there is so much uncertainty going on at the moment around when games might be played again that it wasn’t really a viable option.

“We’d like to thank Josh for his contribution to the team and to the club in his time with us and wish him all the best for the future.”

PNE have had several other players out on loan, some of those deals having already ended when the non-league season was cancelled.

Like Earl, Josh Ginnelly and Connor Simpson have been in League One with Bristol Rovers and Accrington Stanley respectively.

Ginnelly suffered a hip injury just before the season was suspended and was back at PNE getting treatment.